P0D5C Code Will Not Charge Level 1 or 2

As you say, there doesn't seem to be very much information about this code.
You probably found these remarks during your search (I don't think this site was even Honda-specific):





This is speculation on my part because of lack of information, but it sounds likely to be a problem internal to the vehicle. Remember, that what you refer to as the "Charger" is not the "charger" at all (it is the EVSE). The "Charger" is contained within the vehicle. The EVSE (whether the Charge Point or your Honda 120V unit) simply provides the primary 240V (or 120V) to the vehicle's charger system. These words sound like the P0D5C may be referring to the connections between the vehicle's charging system and the HV battery. I believe the charger is mostly situated within the HV battery assembly. There have been a couple of reports in the forum of inverter failures and Honda wound up replacing the entire HV battery assembly because the failed components were not accessible / field serviceable. With 142K miles, that might be a good thing for you if that's what is going on !!

I am curious... Do you have a lot of EV miles among your 142K? It would be interesting to know your battery capacity with that many miles. Maybe you have already checked it, but if not, you can find some instructions here:
https://github.com/clarity-phev/Battery-Capacity-Read

By all means, keep us posted as you learn more about this. Hopefully it will fall within the powertrain warranty.

 

Well, there is some nomenclature fuzziness here...

This is a block diagram:


1. There is a DC-DC Converter within the IPU (HV Battery Assy). If that fails, I believe they replace the entire IPU, so that doesn't sound like your problem.

2. The "PCU" contains an inverter (and a Motor Control module). This converts from DC to 3-phase AC to drive the motor / generator. This PCU is a complicated and expensive part (P/N 1B000-5WJ-A05, around $3K). That doesn't sound right because it is directly involved with the traction drive and is unrelated to charging which is your problem.

3. Finally, there is the "Battery Charger" (part number 1C600-5WJ-A05). This sounds like it must be your problem. It converts from the 120 (240) AC line into DC to charge the HV battery. It is also complicated and expensive (~$2.5K). As designated on the diagram (and the parts list), I would call it the "Battery Charger", but I suppose it could also be called an AC/DC Inverter as described by your dealer...

 

I device that converts AC to DC is a rectifier.
An inverter converts DC to AC.

It will be informative to learn what Honda calls the part that has failed.

 

As a side note -

The dealer reports that your IMA battery capacity is 55.0 aH. That is totally impossible for a 4 year old vehicle with 142K miles. We have learned that there is something that occasionally gets done at the dealers (perhaps unintentionally) that 'resets' the battery capacity reading. It would have been interesting to know your capacity before the car went to the dealer (especially since you are so close to the 150K warranty period). When the capacity number gets reset like this, it takes a surprisingly long time for it to return back to the actual value (months), We have maybe 6 to 10 members who have been tracking their capacity and have experienced these resets. Some are almost back to normal and others are not.

You can see some examples of these 'resets' in this post:
https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/budget-battery-capacity-readout.10531/page-21#post-180529

This is one reason that I am an advocate of setting up to track your own capacity. I do it about once a month (which is overkill, but I find it interesting).

 

A battery charger does indeed convert AC to DC, which is the reverse function of an inverter. The charger also controls both voltage and current as part of a very specific charging protocol. I’d suspect that an enthusiastic parts counter employee may have adorned the part description with a smattering of their own words.

Two other points:
1) The work order mentions a 15/150 emissions warranty. Is that correct? I wasn’t aware of a warranty beyond the ZEV states 10/150 warranty.
2) The battery capacity of 55Ah is questionable. Did they actually measure the capacity and provide you with a complete report that shows individual cell voltages and a host of other data? Typically, they’ll hit you with a 1 hour diagnostic charge of $140-170 for the service. More than likely they just pulled the number off the spec sheet.

 

Although the HV battery goes up to 10/150K in ZEV states, the battery charger is indeed covered by a 15/150K. For reference, I have attached the warranty document... There are actually quite a lot of items that get the 15/150K.

 

The magic word on the work order: "covered."

 

I dug into the 15/150 warranty question and found this list of covered parts. Pretty impressive list of expensive items. It isn’t likely that we’ll hit the 150K mark before the 15 year mark. Three years in, it is possible that we’ll still have the car 12 years from now. Unless it experiences some calamity that is cost prohibitive to repair between now and then.

 

I see that you’re out near Palmtucky, Ca. This could be a California dealer trend. We had a similar experience with the Jeep dealer in Monrovia a few years ago. We had the car in for another never ending recall and they informed us that the brake fluid reservoir cap was not present and that we should have the fluid replaced as it could be contaminated. I informed them that they had just performed a brake fluid change less than a week ago and that they were likely responsible for the missing cap. They replaced the fluid again and installed a new cap at no charge.

Our Clarity is due for the brake fluid replacement. I’ll be sure to pop the hood after the service to see if the issue has migrated to Oregon.

 

The fact that the tech left a piece of their equipment attached to the brake fluid reservoir and didn’t replace the cap, is indeed a clear indication that they have at least one tech who is not certified to work on any car. Do they intend to bring in a Clarity Certified tech from another dealership to replace the charger?